Apparatus for comminuting foodstuffs

ABSTRACT

A COMMIMUTING APPARATUS FOR MEANS OR OTHER FOODSTUFFS COMPRISES A MAGAZINE WHICH IS INDEXIBLE ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS AND IS PROVIDED WITH TWO AXIALLY PARALLEL OPENENDED CHAMBERS ONE OF WHICH ASSUMES A MATERIAL-RECEIVING POSITION WHEN THE OTHER ASSUMES A MATERIAL-DISCHARGING POSITION AND VICE VERSA. A PLUNGER EXPELS MATERIAL FROM THAT CHAMBER WHICH DWELLS IN DISCHARGING POSITION WHEREBY SUCH MATERIAL MOVES INTO THE RANGE OF KNIVES PROVIDED AT ONE AXIAL END OF THE MAGAZINE AND SERVING TO COMMINUTE THE MATERIAL TO FORM CUBES OR BLOCKS. AT THE SAME TIME, THE OTHER CHAMBER RECEIVES FRESH MATERIAL BY WAY OF A FEED WHICH MAY INCLUDE A FUNNEL PROVIDED ON OR IN THE HOUSING FOR THE MAGAZINE OR A PIVOTABLE CARRIAGE WHICH CAN DUMP THE CONTENTS OF DOLLIES OR LIKE CONVEYORS THROUGH AN ELONGATED AXIALLY PARALLEL INLET OF THE CHAMBER IN RECEIVING POSITION.

March 23, 1971 T- REIFENHAUSER APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING FOODSTU'FFS 1 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19, 1968 IN VE N TOR mm REIFENHYKUSER his A TTORNEY March 23, 1971 T. REIFENHAUSER APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING FOODSTUFFS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug 19 1968 FIG. 2

INVENTOR mm REIFENHKUSER BY his A TTORNEY T. REIF'ENHAUSER APPARATUQFOR COMMINUTING FOODS'ITUFPS I March 23, 1971 Filed Aug. 19, 1968 V 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 4

j FIG. 3

FIG. 7

FIG. 6

INVENTOR TUNI REIFENHKUSER BY his ATTORNEY 3,572,412 APPARATUS FOR COMMINUTING FOODSTUFFS Toni Reifenhauser, Burglahr, Westerwald, Germany Filed Aug. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 753,509 Int. Cl. B26d 4/34 U.S. Cl. 146-78 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A comminuting apparatus for meat or other foodstuffs comprises a magazine which is indexible about a horizontal axis and is provided with two axially parallel openended chambers one of which assumes a material-receiving position when the other assumes a material-discharging position and vice versa. A plunger expels material from that chamber which dwells in discharging position whereby such material moves into the range of knives provided at one axial end of the magazine and serving to comminute the material to form cubes or blocks. At the same time, the other chamber receives fresh material by way of a feed which may include a funnel provided on or in the housing for the magazine or a pivotable carriage which can dump the contents of dollies or like conveyors through an elongated axially parallel inlet of the chamber in receiving position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for comminution of meat, sausages, bacon and/or other foodstuffs. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which can be utilized as dicers and wherein a batch of sausages, bacon or the like is fed against a set of knives which convert the advancing material into strips, blocks, cubes or analogously configurated particles.

German utility model No. 1,923,269 discloses a comminuting apparatus wherein a magazine with two chambers is movable sideways so as to place a filled chamber into registry with material expelling and cutting devices while the other chamber is ready to receive a fresh batch of material. A locking device is provided to fix the magazine in position prior to and after each sidewise movement. Such sidewise movement is terminated when a freshly filled chamber is in accurate alignment with a pusher which expels its contents into the range of knives in the cutter assembly. Accurate alignment takes up much time, and additional time is lost for looking or unlocking of the magazine prior and subsequent to each sidewise movement. Consequently, the output of the just described apparatus is rather low. Additional problems arise in connection with filling of chambers with fresh material. Since the apparatus comprises a single cutter assembly and a single evacuating device, it must be provided with two feeds one of which admits material to one of the chambers while the other chamber is in registry with the evacuating device and the other of which admits material into the other chamber while the one chamber registers with the evacuating device. This does not present excessive problems when the chambers are filled by hand; however, if the apparatus is operated automatically or semiautomatically, the provision of two feeds complicates the operation and contributes significantly to initial and maintenance cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the objects of my invention is to provide a comminuting apparatus for meat or the like wherein the total time during which the apparatus is idle during a complete shift is reduced to a minimum.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ap- United States Patent Patented Mar. 23, 1971 paratus wherein a single feed suffices to admit fresh material to a plurality of chambers in the magazine.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can be operated automatically or semiautomatically and wherein the magazine is mounted and movable in a novel and improved way.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an apparatus wherein all chambers of the magazine can receive fresh material at a single station and wherein a single cutter assembly sufficies to insure rapid conversion of fresh material into blocks, cubes or like configurations.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide a novel feed for use in an apparatus of the above outlined character.

The improved apparatus comprises a rotary indexible magazine including a plurality of chambers spaced from each other in circumferential direction of the magazines and each having two open ends and an inlet extending in substantial parallelism with the axis of the magazine, the magazine being rotatable or indexible about a preferably horizontal axis between a plurality of positions in each of which one of the chambers assumes a receiving position while another chamber assumes a discharging position, evacuating means for expelling material from the chamber in dischargng position in a direction from the one end toward and through the other end of such chamber, and cutter means adjacent to the other end of the chamber in discharging position to comminute the material which is being expelled by the evacuating means. The latter preferably comprises a plunger which is reciprocable in parallelism with the axis of the magazine to penetrate into the chamber in discharging position during movement in one direction, i.e., while the plunger performs a working stroke.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved comminuting apparatus itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional features and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of certain specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a comminuting apparatus which embodies one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view as seen in the direction of arrows from the line I I-11 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view of a second apparatus;

FIG. 4 illustrates the magazine of the second apparatus in a different angular position;

FIG. 5 illustrates the magazine of the second apparatus in a further angular position;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view of a third apparatus; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section view of a fourth apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a comminuting apparatus which embodies one of the presently preferred forms of my invention. This apparatus comprises a frame including a base or main support 15 for a magazine 1 which is rotatable about the axis of a horizontal shaft 4 and is provided with two elongated axially parallel chambers 2, 3 located diametrically opposite each other. The base 15 further supports an evacuating device 13 and a cutter assembly 14. A Wheel-mounted collecting receptacle 116 is shown below the cutter assembly 14 to collect comminuted material which is diced during passage through the cutter assembly. FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively show the chamber 2, 3 in receiving and discharging positions. Thus, the chamber 3 contains a batch of bacon, meat, sausage or other material which is to be diced, and its open left-hand end registers with a plunger 16 which forms part of the evacuating device and is installed in a double-acting cylinder 16a. When the plunger 16 performs a working stroke in a direction to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, it expels material from the chamber 3 whereby such material issues at the right-hand open end of the chamber 3 and advances into the range of knives in the cutter assembly 14. The cutter assembly preferably includes three sets of knives, namely, a first set of knives which are disposed in parallel vertical planes and move up and down to slit the material lengthwise in parallelism with the plane of FIG. 1, a second set of parallel knives which reciprocate in horizontal planes to slit the once-severed ma terial moving beyond the knives of the first set, and a third set of knives which includes a rotary knife disposed in a plane normal to the plane of FIG. 1 and cooperating with a stationary counterknife to convert the twice-severed material into dices or cubes or blocks of desired size. The exact construction of the cutter assembly 14 forms no part of the present invention. This assembly can be constructed in a manner as disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 754,077 filed on even date for Cutter Assembly for Use in Apparatus for Comminuting Meat or the Like.

As best shown in FIG. 2, each of the chambers 2, 3 has an elongated inlet 2a, 3a which extends in parallelism with the axis of the magazine 1 and serves to permit loading of material into that chamber which assumes the receiving position. The magazine 1 further comprises closure or lids 5 which seal the inlets 2a, 3a while the respective chambers move away from receiving positions and at least until after such chambers advance beyond the respective discharging positions. Each of these closures 5 is preferably hinged to the body of the magazine 1 and can be retained in closed position by a suitable latching or locking mechanism, not shown. Stops 17 are provided on the magazine 1 to hold the closures 5 in open positions during filling of the respective chambers with bacon, meat, sausage and/or similar foodstuffs. FIG. 2 further show that, when the closure 5 for the inlet 2a of the chamber 2 is held in open position, its inner side is inclined downwardly toward the inlet 2a: so that such closure serves as a ramp for automatic admission of material into the chamber 2 by gravity. The feed of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a carriage, here shown as a plate 7, which is pivotable about a fixed horizontal axis defined by a pintle 18 secured to the base or to another stationary part of the frame. The carriage 7 is pivotable from the solidline (material-accepting) position to the phantom-line (material-dumping) position and can carry one or more dollies or like wheel-mounted conveyances 8 which transport fresh material to the apparatus. The plate-like carriage 7 can be replaced by a framework or by any analogous device which can cause material to enter a chamber in receiving position by gravity feed. If desired, the carriage 7 can be provided with a built-in or otherwise attached receptacle which can be filled by a conveyor and dumps its contents when the carriage assumes the phantom-line position of FIG. 2. The carriage 7 may be pivoted by a toggle mechanism or in any other suitable way, preferably by resorting to one or more motors. The direction in which the carriage 7 is pivoted from the accepting to the dumping positions is indicated in FIG. 2 by arrow 19. The arrow indicates the direction in which the contents of the dolly 8 or of the aforementioned receptacle on the carriage 7 are dumped through the inlet 2a into the chamber 2. A stationary 4 abutment 21 is preferably provided on the base 15 to hold the carriage 7 against movement beyond the accepting position.

As indicated in FIG. 2 by broken lines, the closure 5 for the chamber 2 can be mounted at either side of the inlet 2a. The same applies for the closure which can expose or seal the inlet 3a. It is preferred to provide the magazine 1 with substantially plate-like locking devices for the closures 5 to hold such closures in closing positions and to serve as guides when the respective closures are moved to open positions while the corresponding chambers dwell at the receiving station accommodating the chamber 2 of FIG. 2. Such plate-like locking device and the corresponding closure 5 together form a substantially funnel-shaped guide structure for material which is being dumped in the direction of arrow 20 when the corresponding chamber assumes the receiving position and the closure is moved to open position. Even locking device is piovtably mounted on the magazine 1 and is movable to an inclined position when the corresponding chamber dwells in receiving position.

The operation of the indexing means for the magazine 1 can be synchronized with operation of the evacuating device 13 and with operation of the feed. The knives of the cutter assembly can be operated continuously or intermittently.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate portions of a second apparatus wherein the magazine 1' again comprises two chambers 2, 3' located diametrically opposite each other with reference to the axis of the shaft 4' and each having two open ends and an inlet 2a, 3a. The difference between this apparatus and the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 is that the magazine 1' does not have any closures for the inlets 2a, 3a. Instead, the magazine 1' is rotatable in a stationary cylindrical housing or shell 10 which has an elongated intake opening 9 registering with the inlet (2a') of that chamber (2') which is located at the receiving station. The other chamber (3') then assumes the discharging position and its ends respectively register with the aforementioned plunger 16 (not shown in FIGS. 3-5) and with the first set of knives in the cutter assembly. It is clear that the magazine 1 and/ or 1' may be provided with three or more chambers which are preferably distributed in such a way that one chamber assumes a receiving position when another chamber assumes a discharging position, i.e., that one of the chambers can be loaded while the contents of another chamber are being expelled into the range of knives in the cutter assembly.

FIG. 4 illustrates the magazine 1' in an angular position it assumes after rotation through degrees in the direction indicated by arrow 22. The inlets 2a, 3a of both chambers are then sealed by the internal surface of the housing 10. Of course, and if the magazine is formed with four equidistant chambers, one such chamber registers with the opening 9 whenever the magazine is indexed by 90 degrees. The magazine 1' continues to turn beyond the intermediate position of FIG. 4 and to the position shown in FIG. 5 in which the inlet 3a of the magazine chamber 3' registers with the opening 9 of the housing 10. One end of the freshly filled chamber 2 then registers with the plunger of the evacuating device. The opening 9 is located at a level above the magazine 1' so as to permit admission of fresh material by gravity feed. The exact construction of the means for indexing the magazine 1 forms no part of the present invention. Such indexing means may include a Geneva drive or the like.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of a third apparatus which constitutes a modification of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 to 5. The opening 9 of the housing 10' is located at the level of the shaft 4' and the feed includes a pusher or transfer member 11 which is movable back and forth in a horizontal plane radially of the magazine 1' to forcibly advance material from the opening 9' into that chamher (2) which dwells in receiving position. In this embodiment of my apparatus, the two chambers are located at the same level when the chamber 2' or 3 registers with the plunger of the evacuating device. The upper portion 10a of the housing 10' can form a funnel or hopper which supplies material to the opening 9' by gravity feed.

Referring finally to FIG. 7, there is shown a portion of an apparatus wherein the housing 10" is provided with a stripping or material removing edge 12 which cooperates with the transfer member 11 to sever the material which extends upwardly beyond the opening 9 of the housing. This stripping edge 12 may form an integral part of the housing; its purpose is to insure more uniform filling of chambers 2', 3' with material which is thereupon cmminuted to form blocks or the like.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. Apparatus for comminuting foodstuffs, particularly for dicing bacon, meat, sausages and like materials, comprising a magazine rotatable about an axis and including two diametrically opposite chambers each having two open ends and an inlet extending substantially parallel to the axis of said magazine, said magazine being indexible about its axis between two positions in each of which one of said chambers assumes a material receiving position and the other a discharging position; plunger means reciprocable in parallelism with said axis for expelling material from the chamber which is in said discharging position in a direction from the one toward and through the other end of such chamber; cutter means adjacent to the other end of the chamber in said discharging position to comminute the material which is expelled by said plunger means; and a housing surrounding said magazine and comprising a portion which seals the inlet of that chamber which assumes said discharging position, said housing being provided with a single intake opening which registers with the inlet of that chamber which assumes said receiving position.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said magazine has an outer cylindrical surface and is turnable about a substantially horizontal axis, and wherein said housing has an inner cylindrical surface of a diameter substantially equal to that of said outer cylindrical surface.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, and including feed means for feeding material to be comminuted through said intake opening in said housing and through the inlet of and into that chamber which is in said receiving position.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said feed means comprises a transfer member arranged to move material through the inlet of and into that chamber which assumes said receiving position.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, said housing further having a stripping portion which cooperates with said transfer member to separate the excess of material which is being fed by said transfer member.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the cham ber in receiving position is located at a level above the chamber in discharging position.

7. Apparatusas defined in claim 1, wherein the chamber in receiving position is located in a common horizontal plane with the chamber in discharging position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,268,220 12/ 1941 Marshall 2l4314 3,101,761 8/1963 Buehler et al. 146158 3,486,649 12/1969 Schaller 214-314 FOREIGN PATENTS 846,502 9/1939 France 146-78 1,732,812 10/ 1956 Germany.

ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner Z. R. BILINSKY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 146l58 

